I apologize for the slight delay in posting Day 7, so I will combine both Day 7 and 8 into one post just to make it easier. Additionally, both of these days are relevant to each other, so it works. As a sidenote before I begin, I didn't really have many pics of Day 7 to post, so as you can see from the collage picture, it's comprised mainly of family photos, since I don't have too many of them in my previous ones. I will try to add pics of me and family in my future collages besides the scenery.
Day 7 was our first day of relaxation in Ho Chi Minh City, with no specific events planned. I woke up fairly late at 830, and decided to stay in the hotel room until about 1000, skipping breakfast. Sometimes just relaxing and not doing anything is good, and better than moving around. My arm was still bothering me that day, and I started to have periodic waves of fever-like symptoms accompanied by sweating. Walking around Ho Chi Minh City, or anywhere in Vietnam so far, actually takes quite a toll on the immune system. There's dust and smoke in the air constantly, and an extremely high amount of people who smoke cigarettes. Such a combination is not healthy at all, especially for someone like me who has asthma. I'm not sure if it's from the mosquito bite, the pollution, or some other factor, but I seem to have also caught a small cough. I'm going to just take some Vitamin C until it gets better. In addition, you still have to watch the food, and make sure that it's safe to eat. Most foods cooked by family are safe, as most of my aunts and uncles know that we're from America, so they make sure to clean all their ingredients well. Restaurants seem to be fine too for the most part, and it's a plus when you can see your food being prepared in front of you. However, eating food from roadside vendors, who don't cook food well enough, or wrap their food in newspapers when selling it, is a small hazard for foreigners like me. Overall, sanitary-wise, much of the normal, "non-tourist" oriented aspects of Vietnam are far less clean than that of America. Back to the main point, there is a price for seeing new places I guess.
At 1030 my aunt, followed by her two kids, came to pick us up, and they had already bought tickets to see "Transformers 4" in 3D. The movie had just released that day (one day ahead of the US for some reason). We picked up my mom who decided to come with us, and we took a taxi over to the mall where the theater was. This was the same mall where we viewed "How to Train Your Dragon 2", so it wasn't a new sight, but we decided to explore the department store section of the seven floor mall before we watched the movie.
Although it was a weekday, there was still practically no one inside of the mall, and I could understand why. This mall sold all of the brand-name items, and as I mentioned before in a previous post, they really like to overprice brand name things. We viewed some Lacoste shirts and found them to be over 100 US dollars, much higher than what you could find in America. There's one thing to know when going to Vietnam. If you want brand name clothing, don't buy it from a mall. Go to a public market or a street shop. It's generally cheaper there (as I shall be writing on Day 8 hehe). Without buying anything, we proceeded to Floor 8.
The movie theater was very clean. I mean no popcorn or any trash on the ground. We bought some popcorn, and while waiting for the movie to start, we sat in the lobby and attempted to catch popcorn in the air with our mouths. Some kernels fell on the tile ground floor, and immediately, a janitor came by and sweeped it up. It was then when I told my sister and cousins to stop playing, since I assumed they wanted the theater to stay in its pristine state. If I forgot to mention earlier, movies work a little bit differently than others. Here, when you pre-order your tickets, you are assigned to a seat, and are escorted to your seat when you enter the movie. Secondly, there are several options of movie. You can either watch it in English with Vietnamese subtitles, or watch it in Vietnamese. Lastly, there is the usual 2D and 3D option, but there is also a 4D option, where the seats shake and water sprays at you during action scenes, explosions, etc.
The movie was pretty cool, and my cousins liked it. Transformers movies are extremely action-packed, and this one wasn't any different. The main characters lived in Texas, and in the beginning scene of the movie, it shows one of the characters (age 17) getting a rejection letter from UT Austin in the mail (sad day indeed). I told my cousin that and he just laughed. The only cons were that the high amount of explosions combined with 3D sort of gave me a headache, and it made my mom nauseous. I definitely prefer 2D better. Also, the movie was two and a half hours long, and we exited the movie at 1630. That's why I don't watch movies very much. I feel like I waste so much time afterwards. At least at home I can multitask or something. But hey, it's not everyday that you can watch a movie in theaters before it even comes out in the US.
As short as that day sounded, that essentially sums up Day 7. I'm just going to skip the relaxing at the house part, since it's a daily event that doesn't really change much.
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DAY 8
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Now on to Day 8, which is actually relatively short in summary as well. I shall do just that since it is 1am in the morning.
We ate breakfast at a hu tiu restaurant, a different one from last time. Unfortunately, the food wasn't that great. My uncle said the place used to be well-known, but he now knew that wasn't the case. Bac son (other uncle), shamed the place for having the worst Vietnamese coffee he's ever had in awhile. When we returned to the house, he went off to buy some decent Vietnamese coffee, and distributed drinks out so the people who had to experience the embarrassment of coffee at the restaurant could clean their palettes.
Afterwards we took a taxi, and drove around Ho Chi Minh City to find the locations of the schools my relatives (mom, aunt, and uncle) used to go to. You can see some of the pictures in Day 8's collage picture. Our first stop wasn't actually a school of my relatives, but it was a well-known school called Marie Curie High School. Although we only viewed the front entrance, it looked like a nice school. My uncle talked to the administrator at the front, and said that the place hadn't changed since the Communists took over since the school was so known. We took some pictures and continued.
Our next stop was the location of my mom's school, called Regina Mundi (the full name is longer I believe). It was a French (Catholic?) school, and according to Mom, used to be fairly large, occupying the entire block. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case anymore. The school itself was drastically reduced in size and turned into space for businesses, and the school was also changed to a public school called Nguyen Thi Ngoc Gam. The only sector that was untouched was a Catholic part where a church resided. We visited the area and took some photos.
Our third and final school stop was to a school that my uncles, Bac Khoa (mom's side from California) and Bac Son, used to go to called La Santabeard. It was a nice looking school, and we entered the front plaza area to take some pictures. It didn't look like much changed here according to Bac Son. You can see a picture of him with the school in the collage. The security guard there helped us take a group photo, and that concluded our search. Our final leg of adventuring for the day was.. shopping!
We headed back first to the Ben Thanh Market to reexamine the items there. I bought some T-shirts for myself and cousins (for only $3 US each!), and my mom bought some other items, including pirated DVDs of Vietnamese movies. My dad said she got ripped off though, and explained to her that the DVDs actually had a chance of not working since they're just burned from CD to DVD in an unreliable manner. They had Breaking Bad seasons 1-5 for $25, and although cheaper than buying that in the US, I was like "nah". I can just watch it (and download it if I truly want) for free online. I sort of feel bad since it took the guy almost 10 minutes to find the thing. After these purchases, we decided that it was time to move locations. Ben Thanh was good, but the shirts seemed to have the same designs in several, if not all of the T-shirt kiosks. Plus, it was time to move on to something a little more... brand-name.
My uncle took us to a street outlet/shopping area that had more clothing/shoes/toys/electronics/jewelry/etc., but this time we were met with brand-name items. And A/C! However, we still had to keep a close eye out for brand-name items that were fake. We didn't want another Aberconnie and Fiche situation (well, I knew about that being fake but it was just sandals). This time we wanted the real stuff, or at least, have it with the logo and spelled correctly.
The items sold here that are brand-name, are made in Vietnam, and there are two kinds. There are the items that are legit brand-name made in Vietnam, and those who are from the more sketchy manufacturers from China/unknown, with messy stitching, improper spelling, low quality fabric, etc. We were super careful with our selections as we walked through the plaza, and as we browsed through the sea of items, and saw one that caught our eye, my uncles and I inspected every inch of the item for flaws. As we walked, I noticed some of the "employees" (or teenagers helping out either mom/dad?) wearing fake shirts. I saw a girl wearing a nice shirt... but what is this Praduh you speak of? There were some weird spellings throughout the store, and we came across a shirt for a toddler with words that seemed to try to emulate English, but the person who manufactured it must've had some kind of dyslexia. The letters were missing and jumbled. There was also a mixing of brands, like a Hollister shirt with a tag labeled.. Armani Exchange? Interesting...
Through our hour long search, we managed to snag some legit items though, and for cheap. We got three North Face hats for $3.50 US each (regular price $25), and I got a North Face jacket for $22 US (regular at LEAST $80-100). I also got a Tommy Hilfiger shirt for $15 US. I simply need an Amani shirt, and I'm good to go.
After shopping, we rested in the hotel, and then in the evening when to my aunt's house for dinner (a different house than the normal one). It was a quick 5 minute drive through taxi, but we had to walk through some alleys to get there. When we arrived, a massive table with tons of food awaited us, and we were greeted by my cousins, aunt, uncle, and other random people ('tis true, they weren't family). My sister and I sat down awkwardly, and we began to dig in on the 10 different entrees in front of us. There I attempted to eat a half-born duck. It's like half egg, half duck. Interesting experience. Afterwards I just stayed eating the spring rolls, beef, soup, and french fries. As the night went on, it got much louder, and I was just thinking, "Man, I wonder if the neighbors can hear this. Yep, they definitely can." They drink copious amounts of alcohol in Vietnam. Quite scary really. My dad gifted my uncle a bottle of whiskey, and they drank the entire bottle that dinner. Anyway, we ate in the night for a couple hours, and then left early to avoid getting destroyed by mosquitoes. My dad stayed back a bit to talk to family. When we arrived back at the hotel, he had how he was truly frightened of how much the people drank. Even the women drank large amounts, and he was like, "So it is true that people get liver poisoning here. I understand now."
That essentially concludes Day 8. I apologize for the hasty ending, but it is about 2:16am, and I must get to bed. It's the end of relaxation time, and back to the countryside tomorrow. Until next time.
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